MIDDLETOWN >> After awarding $13,375 to the Wesleyan Argus at the beginning of the semester, members of the Wesleyan Student Assembly have announced plans to take back the newspaper’s unused funds.

In early March, the Student Budget Committee and the WSA office noted that to date the Argus had only used $2,455 of the funds it had allotted the student newspaper.

While SBC members say it’s common practice for the panel to redirect idle money to other campus groups and events, Argus editors allege the recent reassumption of funds is another attempt to defund the 147-year-old campus newspaper after it published a controversial student op-ed last September that criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.

“As they do every spring at this time, [the SBC] takes back unused funds from student group bank accounts so they can reallocate them,” said President of the WSA Kate Cullen in an emailed statement. “The Argus was never defunded.”

Laermer and Zalph wrote that the SBC’s recent attempt to reallocate the paper’s funding was “just one in a series of attempts to undermine our independence as a newspaper and to remove financial support, a movement that began early last semester when the paper published a controversial opinion piece.”

Neither Laermer nor Zalph could yet be reached for comment.

The SBC’s announcement to recall unused funds comes six months after the Argus published a commentary, penned by a regular student contributor, that criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.

After its publication, members of the Wesleyan community began boycotting the twice-weekly newspaper and nearly 170 students signed a petition asking the WSA to strip the Argus of its funding.

In October, the WSA voted to complete a study of how to fund student publications going forward.

“We took much of the ensuing criticism of the newspaper to heart, and have broadened our coverage, expanded our outreach, and introduced new programs and practices in the interest of becoming a better newspaper,” the paper’s editorial said.

Since receiving both local and national attention for the controversial op-ed, Argus editors have reached out to student group leaders for their input on how to become a more inclusive paper and have created a new column in the opinion section called “Voices,” which publishes personal stories from students around campus.

However, Cullen said, the SBC’s decision to take back the unused funds was in no way a response to the paper’s publication of the controversial opinion piece. “The recent reassumption by the SBC was an annual procedure and in no way political.”

When the SBC asked Argus staff members if the newspaper had received any outside funding, staffers allegedly failed to disclose any information regarding the amount they collected in donations. “When asked about the $12,580, the Argus referred to the money as an ‘emergency fund,’ for which they had no demonstrated use. Because emergency and rainy day funds siphon funding away from other groups, the SBC considers them auxiliary funding,” the SBC said in a letter to the editor.

In their editorial, Laermer and Zalph said that the donations are enough to cover the costs associated with producing the newspaper for one semester. “Most of the money was donated by alumni who feared that the newspaper’s funding could be pulled at a second’s notice,” the editorial said. “We stressed in our request for donations that this money was to protect our independence and to provide security after we were threatened with being defunded.”

Currently, there is no policy that prohibits student government organizations from seeking their own fundraising to obtain supplementary donations, the editors noted in their editorial.

However, SBC members argued that this type of additional funding takes away money from other student organizations in need of the support. “That amount of money can make an incredible difference to a variety of student groups, most of which do not have the Argus’ revenue or fundraising capabilities,” the SBC wrote in a letter to the editor.

Argus editors estimate that $24,000 is needed to fund the newspaper for the 2016-17 school year — $12,000 per semester.

According to WSA bylaws, each student is required to pay a $300 fee to participate in school activities. Eighty-four percent of the funds derived from the student activities fee makes up the SBC’s budget. Next year, approximately 3,000 students will pay the $300 fee, which will bring the entire SBC fund to $756,000, Laermer and Zalph stated in their editorial.

During the 2015-16 school year, 176 students held Argus staff positions. Laermer and Zalph stated in their editorial that if the same number of students participate in the paper next year and pay the activities fee, the Argus staff will pay $52,800 in fees — which is more than double the budget the newspaper will be requesting next year.

“Moreover, the worth of the paper is not confined to the paper’s staff — the Argus is a valuable part of the Wesleyan community, consistently and effectively covering campus events, investigating and exploring campus stories and showcasing campus opinions,” the paper’s editorial said.